Starship Troopers
(1997)

Big bugs are the order of the day in STARSHIP TROOPERS, an honest-
to-God, old-fashioned combat movie set in a retro, fascist future
where impossibly square-jawed grunts still carry machine guns, en-
dure the abuses of drill sergeants, and get sent away to exotic,
faraway places to be slaughtered en masse. Okay, there is *one*
thing that's new: men and women fight together. And bunk togeth-
er. And even shower together, as in a gratuitous, humorous boobs-
n-butts bath scene from SHOWGIRLS director Paul Verhoven. Relax,
Mr. V. is no longer orbiting the hirsute moon of Eszterhas-- he's
back in ROBOCOP territory, fusing social satire with gory violence
and, perhaps, pissing in the face of the studio's target audience--
teenage boys already clogging the Internet with their grousing nit-
picks. Granted, the director *is* poking fun at everything that he
can lay his hands on, but he's also trying to channel his own war-
time experiences as a youth. So, while you *will* get the gore--
amputations, decapitations, eviscerations, and immolations-- be
prepared for cheesy dialogue, glaring plot holes, and, at the end,
and just when you think you've grown used to the tone, movie mon-
sters that look like giant human sex organs. Hilarious. Now, for
*my* nit-picks: occasionally the action runs a bit long; the dra-
matics don't deliver quite enough emotional impact; and, at times,
I was distracted by actors aiming their rifles a little too high to
realistically hit their computer-generated foes. With Casper Van
Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busy, Neil Patrick Harris,
Clancy Brown, and a meaty Michael Ironside. (Rated "R"/129 min.)
Grade: B+
Copyright 1997 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros